Do these dogs look sorry for zoo deaths?

In advance of the Zoo’s 100th anniversary, my colleague, Michael Knoop, was going through our Zoo photo files and came across photos of two dogs that did not look like zoo specimens. They weren’t.

In fact, they were inmates at the city animal control facility. According to the story from the Sept. 14, 1990, edition of the Express, they had burrowed under a zoo fence “where heavy rains had eroded the soil” and then killed 27 flamingos — “almost half the zoo’s breeding stock” – and three black-necked swans. Three flamingos were seriously injured and were in isolation at the zoo’s animal health center and two more were being watched by zoo personnel and on limited exhibition.

We thought this one (below) looked like the muscle. He has a very “what now, boss?” look to him.

This one (below), on the other hand, has a “yeah, I did it. Why break into a zoo? It’s where the birds are.” expression.

The attack occurred overnight, and a security guard found several dead birds in the Children’s Zoo before spotting the dogs, which were not captured until staff arrived in the morning.

An animal behavior specialist at the zoo said dogs can get overwhelmed in an area with scents of many animals, i.e., the zoo. Their instincts take over and they can be dangerous.

The dogs were to be kept in quarantine for 10 days at animal control, which was then across the street from the zoo, to be sure they didn’t have rabies. The dog in the top photo had a a tag, and his owners would likely claim him after the end of the quarantine period. The other dog would be put down if he wasn’t claimed.

The dead birds were valued at $30,000. According to a spokeswoman, the Zoo “must replace [the flamingos], because [they] breed much better in large numbers.”